One scientist from the Kurchatov Institute warned that the design was too dangerous to be put into civilian operation. Another recognized that the hazards of the positive void coefficient made the new reactor inherently prone to explosion, and—although his superiors attempted to have him dismissed from the institute because of his dissent—he began a letter-writing campaign that eventually reached the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet Council of Ministers. But by then, the government—adhering to the rigid needs of central economic planning—had already issued its decree
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